1. 1.1 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Chapter 1 Understanding Business Communication

2. 1.2 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Chapter 1 Objectives  Explain why effective communication is important in organizations and how it can help you succeed in business.  Discuss four changes in the workplace that are intensifying the need to communicate effectively.  Describe how organizations share information internally and externally.  List and define the six phases of the communication process.

3. 1.3 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Chapter 1 Objectives  Identify four types of communication barriers.  Discuss four guidelines for overcoming communication barriers.  Differentiate between an ethical dilemma and an ethical lapse. continued

4. 1.4 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Effective Communication Communication is the process of sending and receiving messages. It is effective only when people  understand each other  stimulate others to take action  encourage others to think in new ways

5. 1.5 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Organizational Benefits  Increase productivity  Anticipate problems  Make decisions  Coordinate workflow  Supervise others  Develop relationships  Promote products  Shape impressions you make  Understand needs of stakeholders

6. 1.6 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Why Good Communication?  Increases chances for career success  Good communication skills are the number one predictor of promotion and success in the work world.  Helps you adapt to today’s changing workplace

7. 1.7 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Adapting to the Changing Workplace Globalization Team-based groups Age of Information Technology Advances

8. 1.8 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall So what?  To improve communication skills, you need to:  Practice  Gain experience  Make the most of the opportunities presented in this course

9. 1.9 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Communicating in Organizations  When you join an organization, you become a link in its information chain: you have information that others need, and they have information that you need.  Internal communication is the exchange of information and ideas within an organization.  Effective internal communicators use both formal and informal channels.  Formal internal communication channels are defined by the official chain of command

10. 1.10 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Formal Internal Communication Network Downward Supervisor Staff Horizontal Department Upward Supervisor Staff

11. 1.11 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Upward or Downward Communication?  Weekly accident report from line supervisor to personnel manager  Memo from department supervisor to staff members telling them of upcoming departmental meeting  Meeting between marketing team and production team Quick Quiz Quick Quiz Quick Quiz Quick Quiz Quick Quiz Quick Quiz 1.Upward 2.Downward 3.Horizontal

12. 1.12 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Informal Internal Communications  Informal internal communication channels:  Reflect the organizations actual communication practices  Have no set hierarchical path  Are often called the grapevine  The grapevine is:  Used by savvy managers to spread and receive informal messages  Minimized by sophisticated companies by making certain that the official word gets out

13. 1.13 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall External Communication  External communication is the exchange of information and ideas with outsiders.  External communication can be in the form of a letter, a Web page, a phone call, a fax, an e-mail, a videotape, a face-to- face meeting, etc.

14. 1.14 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall External Communication Company Customers Journalists Competitors Community Representatives Venders Investors Distributors

15. 1.15 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Outside Communication Formal  Press statements, investor letters, advertisements, price changes, and litigation updates  Usually prepared by marketing or public relations team Informal  Employees create an impression of the organization and gain information when they interact or network with the outside world.

16. 1.16 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Communication Process Sender encodes idea Sender transmits Receiver gets message Sender has an idea Receiver decodes message Receiver gives feedback

17. 1.17 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall The Communication Process  The six phases of the communication process are repeated until both parties finish expressing themselves.  Communication succeeds only when the receiver understands the message the sender intended.

18. 1.18 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Recognizing Communication Barriers  A communication barrier (or noise) is any interference in the communication process that distorts or obscures the sender’s meaning.  Perceptual Differences  Restrictive Environments  Distractions  Deceptive Tactics

19. 1.19 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Traits of Good Communicators In Control Congenial Perceptive Credible Precise

20. 1.20 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Guidelines to Becoming a Good Communicator 1. Adopt an audience-centered approach. 2. Foster open communication. 3. Create clean, efficient messages. 4. Be ethical in your communications.

21. 1.21 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Audience-Centered Approach  Always make your message meaningful to your audience.  Learn all you can about your audience.  Use common sense and imagination to project yourself into the audience’s position.

22. 1.22 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Climate of Open Communication  Make sure information flows freely down, up, and across the organization.  Encourage candor and honesty.  Reduce the number of levels in the organizational hierarchy or the number of steps in the communication chain.  Facilitate feedback from others.

23. 1.23 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Lean, Efficient Messages  Deleting unnecessary information  Making necessary information easily available  Trying to give information meaning (rather than just passing it on)  Setting priorities for dealing with overall message flow

24. 1.24 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Ethical Communication  Ethics are the principles of conduct that govern a person or group.  Ethical Communication includes all relevant information, is true in every sense, and is not deceptive in any way.  Commit to ethical communication.

25. 1.25 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Ethical Communications  An ethical dilemma involves choosing among alternatives that are not clear-cut:  Two conflicting alternatives that are both ethical and valid  Two alternatives that lie somewhere in the vast gray area between right and wrong  An ethical lapse involves making a clearly unethical or illegal choice.

26. 1.26 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall Ethical Communications  How to test whether a message is ethical:  Is it legal? Does it comply with the law?  When the law does not apply, consider the moral implications of the message.  Is it balanced? Is it fair to all concerned?  Figure out who it will benefit or harm.  Find out how much benefit or harm it will do.  Is it a message you can live with? Does it make you feel good about yourself?  Ask how you would feel if a newspaper published it.  Ask how you would feel if your family knew about it.

27. 1.27 To accompany Excellence in Business Communication, 5e, Thill and Bovée © 2002 Prentice-Hall The End